this season," while the Billings Gazette deemed it "the greatest mystery picture ever filmed." Photoplay was less laudatory, noting: "This could have been a gorgeous mystery story, but it's an obvious cross between The Phantom of the Opera and The Terror, with none of their consistency or power." Retrospective In a retrospective assessment, author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film two and a half out of four stars, commending its camerawork and direction, but criticizing the film's story as "silly." Commenting on the finale, film historian Graham Petrie notes that Leni and cinematographer Hal Mohr "handle the camera with the utmost possible freedom, culminating in a scene in which the camera swings on a rope with the villain from one part of the theater to another. Along the way, Leni revels in the shadows, cobwebs, tilted angles, subtly distorted perspectives, ominously confined spaces, and clutching hands that had by now become his trademark." Petrie, who classifies the film as a thriller rather than a mystery, emphasizes that its stylistic and visual elements supersede narrative plausibility and characterization. 2016 restoration In 2016, the film underwent digital restoration by Universal Pictures, sourced from both the Cinémathèque Française print, as well as a print featuring the original English title cards owned by the Packard Humanities Institute Collection of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. The restored print was screened at the Castro Theatre as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival on June 4, 2016. It was again screened in September 2016 at Cinecon Classic Film Festival in Los Angeles. This restored edition of the film had its home media premiere in a Blu-ray and DVD combination set by Flicker Alley in 2019. Other adaptations The Last Warning was re-made in 1939 by Joe May under the title The House of Fear. Universal made another movie titled The Last Warning in 1938, but it has no connection to the Leni film. References Sources External links 1928 films 1920s crime films American mystery films American horror films Films about theatre American films based on plays Films directed by Paul Leni Films set in New York City Films set in a theatre Films shot in Los Angeles Universal Pictures films American black-and-white films Articles containing video clips 1920s English-language films 1920s American films